hropolo nt gy A Dein, Anthropol 2014, 2:5 Anthropology DOI: 10.4172/2332-0915.1000135 ISSN: 2332-0915

Opinion OpenOpen Access Access What Part Does Play in ? Simon Dein* University College London, Durham University, Durham, UK

Keywords: Religion; Religious violence; Terrorism; Fundamentalists; appear that potential bombers will always have had at least one friend Psychopathology; Narcissistic or relative killed or abused by the perceived enemy. Silke [4] argues that the transition from being a member of a disaffected group to a Theories of religious violence have examined individual, social and violent extremist is usually facilitated by a catalyst. This may be loss of religious factors which might be involved in religious acts. Jongman parents or loved ones, severe conflict, especially with parent’s existence [1] points out there are many definitions and types of terrorism. He of a criminal record. Interestingly poverty per say does not appear to proposes a provisional definition in which terrorism targets random or be a risk factor for terrorism. It appears that suicide bombers in 911 symbolic victims from a target group and forces them into submission came from middle class backgrounds. Countries encountering suicide by creating a credible threat of violence. Second, terrorists may be terrorist acts between 1980 and 2001 appear to be middle income perceived in different ways by insiders and outsiders. One man’s societies. terrorist is another man’s martyr. Individuals who are willing to die for a group may be seen as fulfilling a sacred task and are martyrs. Those The group dynamics itself may be important in terms of group outside the group see them as fundamentalists. Here I examine the future actions. Goals may be ethnocentric. The group is at the centre theoretical frameworks for understanding religious violence. of everything; others are scaled or rated with reference to it. This can include a number of biases which can lead to inter-group conflict. There have been attempts to explain terrorism in terms of Social identity theory argues that these groups create a positive psychopathology. This research has led to the conclusion that terrorists identity by defining themselves in terms of their group membership are often more psychologically healthier and more stable than the enables them to assign value and emotional significance to the group rest of the criminal population and do not in fact display signs of membership and group goals. appreciable psychopathology [2]. This type of research is difficult to carry out because it is impossible to find large samples of terrorists The Role of Fundamentalist Ideology to examine. The studies often show that while some members may display irrational and psychopathological characteristics the group While followers from religious groups more members of religious overall promotes identity cohesion. However, there may be a degree of groups have been willing to die for their cause there is much work self or narcissistic pathology in some members. concluding that religion is rarely the root cause of suicide terrorism [5-7] suggest that the religious framework offers the excuse and that The cognitive approach examines whether terrorism is irrational. a terrorist framework offers a means to carry on the job. However I Do terrorists in fact have a choice? The cognitive approach argues that disagree with this view and instead argue that religious factors do play terrorist’s behaviour could be rationalised through a significant part in religious violence. Fundamentalist ideology plays a central role in shaping this terrorists psychology. (1) Moral justification, There has been much research examining the relationships (2) Displacement of responsibility, between and violence. Fundamentalism is a type of (3) Disregard for the consequences, religious behaviour that embraces a central and places it in such a holy sacred place it becomes considered infallible and from (4) De-humanisation and rather from man. Counter- evidence cannot dissuade them from (5) Attribution of blame [3]. the religious views. For instance, in the scribes who wrote down Mohammed’s recitations wrote “it was not Mohammed who wrote the Cognitive theories often argue that terrorism is a rational form of Qur’an. He merely recited a copy of it that Allah created in heaven”. behaviour which involves beliefs about the righteousness, justice and sanctity of one cause. Fundamentalists are often seen as violent, intolerant, stubbornly backwards and sometimes inhuman, godly and sectarian. However, Terrorists adopt absolutist rhetoric differentiating between us terrorism and fundamentalism are not synonymous. There are many versus them. Insiders are good, outsiders represent the force of evil fundamentalist groups who are completely free from any sectarianism, and, therefore, the only logical solution is to destroy them. This for instance, the Christians. In 1950 Adorno published the becomes a moral obligation. Overall the evidence suggests terrorists Authoritarian Personality [8], a book which explored the tendency of are rational psychologically healthy individuals. There is, however, no agreed definition of irrationality.

The social psychological approach focuses on understanding *Corresponding author: Simon Dein, University College London, Durham terrorism in terms of group processes. It is important to know, University, UK, Tel: 077-7831-5964; E-mail: [email protected] however, that no matter how successful a terrorist group is, even the Received: November 05, 2014; Accepted November 06, 2014; Published larger more popular terrorist group represent a minority within their November 13, 2014 communities. There is no doubt that grievance and sense of threat lend Citation: Dein S (2014) What Part Does Religion Play in Religious Violence?. a part in group terrorism. Belonging to a religious group may fulfil self- Anthropol 2: 135. doi: 10.4172/2332-0915.1000135 esteem needs of an individual and provides outlets for emotions caused Copyright: © 2014 Dein S. This is an open-access article distributed under the by concrete grievances. However, why one group responds to this in terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted one way and another in a violent way remains to be explored. It does use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Anthropol ISSN: 2332-0915 ANTP, an open access journal Volume 2 • Issue 5 • 1000135 Citation: Dein S (2014) What Part Does Religion Play in Religious Violence?. Anthropol 2: 135. doi: 10.4172/2332-0915.1000135

Page 2 of 2 fundamentalists towards fascist, un-humanitarian beliefs in a liberal 4. Silke A. The role of the organisation in suicide terrorism. Int J Ment Health democratic society. He also found a number of social attitudes tending Addiction, MB. to occur together – ethnocentrism, political and economic conservatism 5. Pape RA (2003) The strategic logic of suicide terrorism. American Political and anti-Semitism. Early research indicated weak or no empirical Science Review. 97: 343–361 support in relationship between fundamentalists and authoritarianism 6. Rogers P (2006) Personal commentary during climate change: The global and dogmatism. However, later research does indicate a relationship security impact. RUSI, London. between and prejudice [9]. 7. Rogers CA Lewis, KM Loewenthal, M Cinnirella, R Amlôt, H Ansari (2006) Proceedings of the British Psychological Society Seminar Series Aspects of References Terrorism and Martyrdom, eCOMMUNITY. 1. Jongman AJ (2005) Political terrorism: A new guide to actors, authors, concepts, 8. Adorno TW, Frenkel-Brunswik E, Levinson DJ, Sanford RN (1950) The data bases, themes and literature. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. authoritarian personality. Harper, New York. 2. Atran S. (2003) Genesis of suicide terrorism. Science 299: 1534–1639 9. Altemeyer B, Hunsberger B (1992) Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, 3. Brooke Rogers M (2007) “The Role of Religious Fundamentalism in Terrorist quest and prejudice. International Journal for the 2: Violence: A Social Psychological Analysis”. Int Rev Psychiatry. 19:253-62 113–133.

Anthropol ISSN: 2332-0915 ANTP, an open access journal Volume 2 • Issue 5 • 1000135